No Freedom Dido

” No Freedom ” is by Dido ( Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O’Malley Armstrong ), the British singer and songwriter. The song was written by Dido Armstrong and Rick Nowels, who has worked with the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Adele, Madonna and Sia.
Production for the single was by Dido Armstrong, Rick Nowels and Rollo Armstrong, the latter being the older brother of Dido and co-writer and producer for her multi-million selling albums including No Angel and Life For Rent.
The song was released by record labels Sony Music Entertainment and RCA Records on the 18th of January 2013 and taken as the lead single from her fourth album, Girl Who Got Away.
” No Freedom ” is an acoustic ballad composed with the influence of the music genres folk and reggae; the song makes use of Dido’s soothing vocals overlaying the guitar base.
The song is about heartbreak and the pain that comes with it, although Dido has said that the song is actually about love in general.
Dido wrote and recorded ” No Freedom ” when pregnant with her first son, Stanley; she continued to record the song right up until the day she gave birth.
In an interview with the BBC Dido said: ” There’s nothing nicer than singing and having a little dancing friend inside “. With the approval of the soon to be born Stanley, Dido recorded the song at Rick Nowels studio in Los Angeles in Southern California and finished off the track at home with her brother Rollo.
Unintentionally the refrain ” No freedom without love ” was adopted by Syrian rebels fighting against President Assad and the Ba’athist government.
Although the song is not intended as a war song, Dido gets letters from people caught up in the conflict. In an interview with the BBC she said: ” The whole thing sounds quite unreal to me, is that going to make you fight properly? “.
Music critics gave a mixed response to the song. British newspaper The Guardian’s Caroline Sullivan had positive things to say about the songwriting ” Guitars strum gently, the tempo is mid, and Dido has never sounded more listless as she wanly informs her man that their relationship can’t flourish unless she’s free to wander. ”
” No Freedom ” was called “simple, but gorgeous ” by Bernard Perusse of Montreal Gazette. However, Nick Levine of BBC Music called the track ” an odd soporific song “.
Despite the mixed reviews by music critics, Dido had success with the song. In Switzerland, it entered the chart at number forty-seven and rose to reach number twenty-eight in the second week of release. The single stayed on the chart for five weeks.
In France the song charted at number sixty-four where it peaked and Germany it entered at the same number, moving up to number fifty-nine a week later.
” No Freedom ” entered the UK Singles Chart on the 3rd of March 2013 at number sixty-nine, from there it climbed to reach number fifty-one. The song spent a total of three weeks on the UK chart.